


Witch Hunter

by wolfsrainrules



Series: Flicker Series [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Crossposted from FanFic, Flicker Works are ADOPTABLE but I have to be told and credited, Flicker is basically just my dumping ground for KHR stuff that wont leave me alone, Gen, Hunter AU., Hunters discovered Flames awhile ago, I have lots of feelings about this AU, No Romance, OC is a teacher, Part of my Flicker Fic, Plotbunnies EAT YOUR BRAIN OKAY, Reborn won't know what hit him, Tsuna is a BAMF, Tsuna is a Hunter, Witches, family bonds, so AU, they have different names for them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-24 19:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10748436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfsrainrules/pseuds/wolfsrainrules
Summary: There are Hunters and there are Mafia. When Tsuna was small, a Witch attacked him and his mother, and so a Hunter found him before Reborn. He's a bit of a Bad Ass in the making.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Flame users here are either Mafia or Hunters. Each group has a different name for Flames which I listed below. The first are what the Hunters refer to Flames as.
> 
> Amber Soul Fire: Sky Flames  
> Ruby Soul Fire: Storm Flames  
> Sapphire Soul Fire: Rain Flames  
> Citrine Soul Fire: Sun Flames  
> Emerald Soul Fire: Lightning Flames  
> Azurite Soul Fire: Mist Flames  
> Amethyst Soul Fire: Cloud Flames

Tsuna wasn’t actually sure how it happened. All he’s certain of is if they had left his mother alone, he wouldn’t have gotten involved at all.

And once he had gotten involved and could see into the shadows? Once he could see the dangers lurking around every corner waiting for his loving but naïve mother to stumble upon them?

Mama had always called him kind. 

Tsuna couldn’t leave then. He’d seen the darkness. Seen the threat it posed to his mother, his town…the world.

They weren’t all bad of course, and Tsuna was very careful to do his research before he acted, but the witches that _threatened his mother?_

They died by fire.

It had been an accident the first time…finding out about the shadows, and what hid in them. His mother had been pinned, the creature-person?- had her by the throat and was choking her, she was about to die. Tsuna had been tied against the wall with tree roots (of all things) and seeing that…something had snapped inside.

All Tsuna had known then was the burning all-consuming desire to _**protect Mama**_ and there had been bright orange fire. 

The witch had screamed. Tsuna remembered that. He remembered how she had _petrified_ before she had turned into ash too. Remembered watching his mother collapse to the floor as the witch released her hold on her throat, her head hitting the kitchen counter on the way down. When his mother woke up in the hospital the next morning, she wouldn’t remember what had happened to her, but Tsuna did.

Tsuna had never really applied himself to learning before. What was the point? The teachers and adults around him thought him stupid and no-good. Treated him like he could learn nothing and so teaching him was a waste of time. Not to mention Tsuna found focusing on anything since that day when his father brought his boss to his home to be difficult. 

This had been different. 

These things, these witches, had tried to kill his mother to get to him. Tsuna wanted to learn more than he actually needed to learn. It was a novel experience. Tsuna searched for a teacher to help him and he had found one.

It was a foreign woman who had been in Namimori for the witch that Tsuna had accidently killed that would eventually come to teach him. Tsuna would come to call the woman Akane for the brilliant red of her hair (and an inability to pronounce her English name.)

He would learn the ins and outs of Hunting from Akane. The dos and do nots of the Hunter’s world. He would learn that the witch had been drawn to him for his inner fire. 

“You have an Active Soul Fire little lion. It’s your own inner fire. We call it Soul Fire because each of the Flame types are associated with certain characteristics. It tells those of us who know what to look for what the core of your being is without masks or lies, without the rules of society or your upbringing tying you down. Soul Fire is special” Akane explained to the then nine-year-old Tsuna. “It’s rare for humans to Activate their Soul Fire at all, but those of us who do open the door to an entire new world limited only by our belief, resolve and imagination.”

Akane had tilted her head as she observed Tsuna for a moment. Another moment later and she had smirked, kneeling down in front of him, one hand held in front of him with her palm up and open. Tsuna remembered how he had jerked back as a bright purple flame flickered to life in her palm. “I am what is known as an Inverted Flame. This means that the ‘classic’ or normal traits of my Soul Flame are reversed or not what is expected of most of my Gem Type. Those of us with purple Soul Fire like this are usually very anti-social and reserved. It means usually we don’t like to be around people. It usually means we like to drift around and do things our way, that we claim a place as our own and run it with an iron first. We don’t like to be chained or commanded. As an Inverted Amethyst Soul I am odd in that I enjoy company, but only with those that I accept. I enjoy drifting but I will ‘drift’ closer to home than a Classic Amethyst would tend to, and my Territory tends to be people rather than places. Not that I own them, but that they are…mine. Mine to protect, mine to help. It’s…hard to explain.”

Akane shook her head, her green eyes focusing on him as she continued “You, little lion, are an Amber Soul. You have Amber Soul Fire which is the rarest of Gems, the rarest Flame. It means that you will get along with almost anyone, you are a forgiving soul, but when you have something to protect… _that_ is where you will shine little lion. It is where you will learn to _roar._ ”

Akane had stayed in Namimori after finding him to teach him about the world of Hunters and Soul Fire. 

For the next few years Tsuna would learn about witches, how to tell if they were bad or good, if they were misguided. He learned to fight and protect. He learned how to lie. He learned to build connections so he could get ahold of weapons and materials. He learned to research. Who was reliable in the world for Hunters, those who would be reliable only in certain conditions…who was not. He learned of the Hunter’s code. He learned to always keep his word for the word of a Hunter was his vow and his honor. (He also learned the art of loopholes, but unless it was earned he was told a Hunter was to keep their word in the spirit it was given.) He learned all Akane could teach him. 

Tsunayoshi learned many things from Akane, but perhaps the greatest gift she had given him was breaking the seal that had been placed on his Soul Fire. 

He could still remember Akane descending into a rage when she had found the seal, the likes of which Tsuna hoped to never see again. He remembered how her Soul Fire had flared into being, how she seemed to grow, how the air had gotten thick and hard to breathe, how the woman had gone unnaturally still and the way her normally bright green eyes had flared a deep purple to match her Flames. (He would learn later of the Mafia and how they whispered of the tempers of ‘Clouds’ and he would laugh. They feared the Classic Clouds but Tsuna knew the truth- it was the Inverted Clouds that were the more dangerous of the two.) 

Akane had left him in Namimori for a few days only to come back with a large male who had been just as angry as she had been when he examined the seal. This man had been another Amber Soul like Tsuna- Akane introduced him as her teacher- and had shattered the seal for him. Tsuna hadn’t realized how bad he had felt until his Soul Fire was free again. 

He had spent many late nights honing his use of Soul Fire once it was free and Akane had helped him as much as she was able.

She stayed with him until he was almost thirteen before she had to leave him. It was an information packed four years (or just about four years) and Tsuna wasn’t sure he would ever be able to repay her for what she had taught him. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t try though. 

She gave him a number to memorize before she left him. “It is for you to contact me little lion” she explained to an upset Tsuna “I can’t stay here forever. You know this. There are witches out there that are hurting people and it is my job to find them. I will always come back to you when I am needed. This I can promise you- so long as I am able I will always come to you when you call. You’re **_mine_** little lion and I take care of my own. I’ve taught you what I can and it is time for me to travel again. So remember what I’ve taught you:

“Stand tall in the face of those who would see you fall, find something to protect with everything that you are and roar little lion.”

It had been painful to watch the woman who had taught him so much walk away, but he had known even then that the world needed Akane to help it. He had also known that he would find a way to grow powerful enough to help her. She had taught him so much…he wanted to repay her somehow. Wanted to help her in any way that he could.

And then Reborn walked into his life and Tsuna found the ‘way’.

The Mafia wouldn’t know what hit it. Reborn had handed the thing he needed to help Akane to Tsuna on a silver platter without realizing it. Tsuna had found something to protect. That only left one last thing for him to do.

_Roar little lion._


	2. Chapter 2

Witches were born. It was a power a person either had or didn’t have. This meant that Halflings were a thing that didn’t exist _technically_. They may have had one witch parent and one human parent, but so long as they were born with the power they were considered witches. ‘Halfling’ was a derogatory term referencing the witch’s parents and a word used to discriminate against those with human parents.   
Tsuna had learned some of this from Akane while she stayed with him, but he doesn’t quite understand how far reaching this treatment is. That’s not to say that _every_ witch treats the witches with a human parent _badly_ , but a large percent of the witch population at least believes that those witches with a human parent are somehow less powerful than those with a full set of witch parents. 

Tsuna will later come to learn that this fact is true only so long as the witch in question _believes it to be true_. A witch’s power depends on their will. If they do not _believe_ that they are powerful their magic with react as if that were fact. Of course the reverse was also true. A witch that believed they were _all-powerful_ would over reach their actual abilities and exhaust themselves or kill themselves. It had to be balanced. 

Tsuna was unspeakably glad he had run into Akane when he had. Not only because she had saved him and taught him, but because she had opened the door for him into a whole other world. Now that he knew to look he could finally _see_.

Namimori was _**full**_ of people with Active or almost Active Soul Fire. He wasn’t sure why that was, but it meant that the town had various places he could go for supplies. Thanks to the mark of the Hunters-Akane had drawn it out for him and called the symbol the Celtic Dara Knot which according to the woman symbolized power, strength, wisdom, destiny, leadership and endurance. The mark was always placed somewhere on the front of any building that could be asked for help by a Hunter so Tsuna knew where to go. TakeSushi- the sushi restaurant owned by one of Tsuna’s classmate’s father- was actually a Hunter ‘hotspot’ for Namimori. The Hibari clan was actually a clan of Hunters as well and Tsuna wonders if this had anything to do with the Flame Actives in Namimori since the Hibari clan had protected the town for generations.

Hunters had their own traditions and rules to follow. Akane had explained them to Tsuna while she was with him. One of the first traditions she had explained to him was the importance of tattoos. Each tattoo a Hunter took to their skin was important. They were only ever accepted when the Hunter had something happen to them that was important to the Hunter. Sometimes this was an event, or to represent a person that had a strong effect on the Hunter. Other times it was a fight or promise. 

Tsuna himself had gotten the same tattoo that all Hunters shared on his 11th birthday. It was the only tattoo that every Hunter would share. It had been his first tattoo and Akane had gone with him after getting permission from his mother. (Nana had cooed about how Tsuna was ‘becoming a man’ and how it was ‘like Papa’. Tsuna hadn’t known Iemitsu had any tattoos until that point) It was the mark of the Hunter and told those that knew what they were looking at that Tsuna knew of the witches and was capable of hunting them or helping a fellow Hunter if it was needed. The Dara knot was the size of his palm and rested on his ribs just under his right pectoral, the tattoo layered in with Soul Fire so that other Hunters could know it was a fellow Hunter Mark rather than a regular tattoo. 

Tsuna hadn’t hesitated for a moment when Akane had told him it was a lifelong decision, when she had explained there was no going back. Akane had opened a whole other world to him. A world where he was not ‘no-good’, a world where he was able to flourish. 

He owed her much, and he was willing to fight against witches that needed to be stopped. (He would always remember the witch from when he was nine and being helpless and pinned against the wall like a butterfly.) It would be a waste not to use what he had learned- especially since witches would be attracted to him for his Amber Soul Flame.

Akane had worn her Hunter symbol on her breast over her heart and had a second tattoo on her back. When Tsuna had asked to see it she had shown him an intricately detailed red fox that took up her upper back stalking down her spine with the fox’s tail going up and over Akane’s right shoulder with the tip of the tail stopped on her right collar bone as if the tail had curved and curled over her body. 

“What’s that one for?” he had asked quietly. (He remembered her telling him that a Hunter’s tattoos all told stories if he knew how to ask.)

“It is my mark little lion.” Akane had answered a nine-year-old Tsuna. (Three months after she had met him) “My symbol to the Hunters. I am a very well-known Hunter little lion. A Hunter known for her cunning and her record. I earned the mark of the fox over the course of my work. One day you will earn your mark as well.

Silently Tsuna had sworn to himself to make her proud and earn a mark he could wear with his own pride.

The day before Akane leaves him when he is 13, she offers him a second mark. “You are my student in the arts of the Hunter Tsunayoshi. You are an excellent student, and I am proud of all that you learned from me. I would ask for the right to place my mark on you, so that all Hunters who come across you know of your connection to me.” 

Tsuna had been thrilled with the idea and honored. He knew it was a big deal for a Hunter to offer _their_ mark to someone else. It was basically declaring that the two were family. Battle Siblings. That they would watch each other’s back in all things. Tsuna was also aware that Akane as an Amethyst Soul was _possessive_ and this was her way of letting everyone that saw her mark know he was hers. This particular tattoo had been layered with her Flames as another mark claiming him as hers. Tsuna didn’t mind. He would ask to place his own mark on her when he had one.

So at 13 Tsuna has a matching fox tattooed onto his spine to Akane. 

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Reborn is confused by Tsunayoshi Sawada. 

He also wants to smother Iemitsu with a pillow for all the faulty information he had given Reborn on his son. 

To start with, while Tsuna was not the top of his class he sits in the upper-middle rankings. The next thing to be off with the information provided on Tsuna is his physical shape. The boy exercises _constantly_ and Reborn knows what to look for so he knows someone has taught the boy. It also comes as a shock when he realizes that the boy _knows how to use Sky Flames._

Everything he had been given on Tsunayoshi is _outdated_. The only thing that stops Reborn from walking away to murder Iemitsu is the knowledge that his contract to train Tsuna had already started. 

Upon meeting the brat Reborn is shocked again (it has to be some sort of record) when the boy doesn’t even flinch at being told he’s to inherit the biggest name in mafia history. Instead Reborn sees a lightning quick flash of cunning calculation followed quickly by _excitement._

He worries about that at first, but it doesn’t take him long to figure out that the brat isn’t planning to become a tyrannical leader. It _does_ take Reborn a little longer than he was proud of to figure out what the flash of cunning calculation and excitement actually meant. The brat is excited about the ability he would have to _protect_ with Vongola. 

Reborn had thought it would take _months_ if not _years_ to get the Decimo-to-be to see the protective potential Vongola could have, that it would take months of work to get Tsuna to think about walking Primo’s path.

Reborn can admit to being excited himself to see where the brat will take the Vongola. 

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The Hunters called it ‘Soul Searching’ when an Amber Soul looked for its set of Gems. (The mafia called it Harmonizing and a set of ‘Elements.’)

Tsuna hadn’t realized what he had been missing until he begins to gather his Gems. The first to hear the ‘Soul Call’ is Yamamoto. Tsuna had realized long ago that the Sapphire Soul was lonely. He’d made a point of chatting to the boy whenever he had visited TakeSushi for Hunter purposes (usually before or after he talked to Yamamoto’s father) but it isn’t until Tsuna saves the boy from himself that Yamamoto seems to realize that Tsuna is different from all the other students in that Tsuna wants to know Takeshi not the school idol.

The second Soul to be Called to his side is the Citrine Soul Ryohei. The boy is bright and eager and almost too enthusiastic to handle but Tsuna manages it. As angry as he is that Kyoko had to be targeted for Ryohei to notice him, Tsuna can’t quite manage to regret it. (If one personality trait had rubbed off of Akane on him it was possessiveness. Once his Gems were found they were _his_ to shield and love, to shelter.)

The third to find him is his Ruby Soul. Tsuna knows immediately that Gokudera is a witch. Akane had trained him well, and the Vongola Intuition (though Akane had called it his instincts) had been trained for it as well so Tsuna always knows when he is in the presence of a witch. He will later come to realize that Gokudera is what some would call a Halfling due to having a human father. Tsuna later learns that Gokudera’s witch mother had used music as her power source and had died before being able to teach Gokudera whose powers are more along the lines of explosions. 

It took multiple reassurances for Gokudera to calm once he realized Tsuna was a Hunter. (Gokudera had accidently caught sight of a shirtless Tsuna only to panic upon seeing the symbol on his chest layered with Flames.) This is also the cause of the discussion his Ruby Soul has with him about his childhood. Tsuna gets angrier and angrier as he learns of the discrimination his Ruby had faced from all sides. The Mafia because they didn’t realize Gokudera was anything but the ‘half-breed son of a whore’ and the witches because he was a ‘Halfling’ and therefore ‘lesser’ then the ‘true witches’.

Tsuna swears on his Soul Fire that he will provide a home to those who the world would turn away that night, and though he doesn’t know it yet that decision will shake the foundations of his world. 

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Reborn is surprised when he sees Tsuna has tattoos. 

Nothing about the Sky he had been tutoring indicated he would be the type for tattoos. Dino had some of his own, but Tsuna treats the tattoos like they mean something. 

There had been no information in his profile on them, which means Reborn is _missing something_. He doesn’t like that. He had recognized the first as a Celtic Dara knot, but he wasn’t sure why the boy had it. He wasn’t sure why he wore the fox on his spine either. All he knows is the way Tsuna treats them they mean something to him and that means somewhere in Tsuna’s timeline there’s an event or two that Reborn doesn’t know about.

He resolves to figure it out. 

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Twin Gems are _rare._ All Twin Gems are twins, but not all twins are Twin Gems. 

It is the mark of a powerful Amber Soul to Call Twin Gems to his side. Tsuna is rather surprised to Call a pair of Twin Azurite Souls to him. It had been Akane’s fault. She had called him and asked if Nana would mind looking after a pair of twins for her. Nana hadn’t minded at all of course, and Tsuna had managed to slip away long enough to meet the twins at the train station. (Namimori didn’t have an airport so the twins had landed in Tokyo and rode the train over)

Tsuna had only known that Akane had been _furious_ on the phone when she had called, her voice tight in a way that told Tsuna someone was going to be dead if they weren’t already. When he had asked she had snarled that she had had to _take out some trash_ that were kidnapping witches and _experimenting_ on them. She had explained that the twins she was sending his way were survivors she had managed to save.

Tsuna is glad Akane got to them first. It had been a hard learned lesson, but various attacks on his house and his mother by various witches after his Amber Soul had taught Tsuna that sometimes he would run into a fight he would be forced to _**finish.**_ It had had quite the effect on him, including being glad Akane was there to get rid of anyone that would _experiment on children_ just because of what they could do. (It also reinforces his will to create a place for those that need it with nowhere else safe to go. He’s unaware of the way his eyes flare a bright shining orange with the strength of his resolve.)

It takes a few weeks for Tsuna to actually Call the twins to his side, but once it happens Tsuna swears the two witch twins will _never_ see the inside of another cell so long as he can help it. They’re _his_ now.

The Emerald Soul that eventually is Called to Tsuna is young. It rouses quite the protective response in Tsuna, as well as the _intense_ urge to train the boy. He’s so young and Tsuna wants him to survive the world he is in. (He finally understands how Akane must have felt upon meeting him at least a little) He resolves to make sure the boy survives even if he must be brutal in training to have it done. He would not have one of _his_ Gems dying on him. He refused. 

So if he had to be intense, or brutal in training with his Emerald he would do so. He would not be cruel and he would always take care of him, but he would train the boy as he had been. Push him just beyond where he thought his limit was until his Emerald could stand on his own to face down any threat. 

The last of his Gems to be Called is his own Amethyst Soul.

Tsuna was never so glad to have dealt with Akane before having Hibari dropped onto him by Reborn. It would never have worked properly if Tsuna hadn’t realized how important respect was to an Amethyst. The respect that was given to the Amethyst themselves and the respect they needed to have for the Amber Soul that Called them.

It had taken an honest all-out fight where Tsuna had come out on top though it had been a close fight. (And he owes _that_ win almost entirely to Akane as well. The Amethyst woman that had trained him had been _brutal_ because she had wanted Tsuna to stand on his own and survive no matter how powerful the witch he faced happened to be. Reborn had only expanded on that training.)

In the end both had been bleeding and breathless, but Hibari had given him a bloody grin, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust and the beginnings of respect. It had taken six more all-out fights with Tsuna winning each of them (though it had gotten progressively harder each win, but Tsuna had always learned best under pressure and Hibari coming at him with no reservations was quite the bit of pressure) for Hibari to settle into the bond. (And his Amethyst was prone to springing the random attack and fight on him to test him even after that.)

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Reborn had decided. 

The _moment_ Tsuna was sworn in as Decimo he was going to murder Iemitsu. Slowly. Painfully.

With something to help the pain along. The man was a _fool_. His son was nothing like the delusion Iemitsu believed him to be. The boy was a boss in the making. Reborn had only had to help him along.

But for every shock Reborn had suffered teaching the boy, Iemitsu would earn a corresponding bruise at the least.

(The man would be a walking color chart on purples and blues by the time he was done, Reborn swore to it.)

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Tsuna chooses to take a third tattoo when he finished Calling his Gems together. It is a milestone for every Amber Soul to Call their Gems. For Tsuna it is…he has no words for it. He can _feel_ each of his Gems through their bonds. It’s…amazing. 

No matter how far away they are from each other he will never be truly alone again, and neither will they. 

It is a life changing event for Tsuna and in the traditions of the Hunters he chooses to place a mark on his skin to commemorate it, bringing his Elements along to layer their Flames into the tattoo. 

It is difficult but in the end Tsuna chooses to place a round shield upon his left shoulder to symbolize his resolve to protect these bonds and the people. The shield has an amber gem in the center and going clockwise from the top there appears to be a ruby, citrine, emerald, sapphire, azurite, and amethyst embedded into the shield all evenly spaced. 

(Later, much later, when Reborn joins his family permanently after years of guiding him through the Mafia Tsuna will add the black tribal raven with wings spread wide on the shield so that the amber gem in the center of his shield will rest just above the raven’s head.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I.W.P-chan over on Fanfic asked some questions and made some observations that I sort of fell in love with and here we are.


End file.
